This present invention relates to the art of the combustion of solid fuels. Solid fuel burners have been used to dispose of waste products such as garbage, sawdust, pellets, coal, and the like. Prior art requires the constant feeding of either mechanical means or on a slide slope to the combustion area in order to keep a flame. Some burners drop fuel into the burner using an air drafted into a rotating cyclone-forced air furnace. Some stoves are designed to feed fuel with augers or other mechanical means and some use a combustion bed which also must be fed.
This stove can be utilized to heat homes, shops, greenhouses, tents and even a very small version can be used for backpackers and emergency use. It requires no electricity and can burn materials efficiently. The design of this present invention insulates the burn with the fuel materials, causing it to burn much hotter and cleaner. Many stoves require additional electric fans to make them burn clean, while this stove burns clean without such additions. This stove can efficiently burn biomass such as forest debris, waste from manufacturing, and wood chips. It doesn't require the cutting down of large trees. Fuel can be made from undergrowth/brush that can be chipped or processed pellets can be used which are made of waste products. Chipped and pelleted material dry faster that large bulky logs. This takes more energy to burn solid or wet logs. It takes many years to produce large trees for the conventional wood stove. This present stove provides heat from waste products without requiring deforestation. The conventional wood stoves are less efficient and require a large amount of trees to be cut. This in turn cuts down the amount of oxygen in the atmosphere. A lot of countries and areas do not have trees to cut and need an efficient stove which burns clean and can utilize whatever materials are available. Many parts of the world do not have electricity. Backpackers can also utilize this stove because they can carry sawdust or pellets in small amounts, mix in small quantities of forest floor materials and have a stove that burns for a long time on a small amount of fuel. This stove burns safely inside an inner combustion bin with a consistent heat without much fluctuation. While other stoves can cause forest fires or burning of tents by the hot embers and sparks. This present invention doesn't allow sparks or burning embers to be released. Emergency response teams could use this stove during weather emergencies such as floods, volcanoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, etc. when electrical power outages are common. Because these events are happening more frequently, an emergency stove is needed that can provide heat to warm food and for shelter. A smaller version of this stove could also be manufactured in large quantities for such relief. This stove is also a good dependable heat source for a greenhouse because of the long burning heat without electricity and fluctuating heat.
Pellet stoves generally require utilization of an electric blower and drive motors while burning pellets which increases the chances of failure in the stove when electricity is shut off. Some times there is smoke damage and the stove can jam full of pellets if there is a power or mechanical failure. There is always a possibility of failure of the electrical components and these parts must be maintained. The auger feed pellet stove requires clean fuel. Sometimes dust and debris causes the auger to clog up. The auger is only made for certain sized material. Some fuels cause the auger to clinker up, making the stove inoperable. The use of mechanical means increases the cost of manufacture of the stove and also the heating costs.
The closest prior art related to this present invention is the Fulgor stove, commercially produced in Battersea, London (patent 595869 expired). The Fulgor stove is designed to burn sawdust and wood shavings. The Fulgor stove requires the user to manually place a stick or tubing inside the removable bin while loading the sawdust and packing it with another instrument. When the stick or tube is carefully removed it leaves an air way opening for the combustion and draft. The fuel is ignited from the bottom of the stove. This prior art produces a center burn in the bin placed inside the stove. In an article about the Fulgor stove it states that “shavings or chippings will work provided they don't collapse down the airway”. In this prior art, there is no way of preventing a collapse of the fuel. Even sawdust and shavings can collapse into the air way in the Fulgar stove. Center burn technology has not improved. Another requirement of the Fulgor stove is removal of the bin after each burn and filling with fuel before putting it in the stove. This requires lifting it in and out of the outer bin of the stove. The Fulgor stove only burns for 4 to 8 hours because the volume is limited by the amount a person can lift into the stove. In an article in Mother Earth News there is an article about a related a center-burn tin can stove. The article stated that someone should manufacture a sawdust fuel mixed with wax or other bonding agent to hold its shape so that it could be dropped into a stove. This present invention solves these aforementioned problems in prior art and expands the technology to include other loose fuel sources. In common combustion stoves, loose fuel products such as sawdust and shavings tend to smolder and do not get adequate oxygen unless supplied by forced draft such as a fan which causes the sawdust to burn rapidly preventing a long burn time. Sawdust and wood shavings are loose cellular material and are hard to handle and considered messy. For these reasons, the center burn technology has not advanced. This present invention is able to advance the center burn technology. This present invention can burn the newer fuel sources such as pellets or compressed fuels allowing even a longer burn than non-compressed fuels. This present invention provides an air way and draft means by using an air core tube which keeps the fuel from collapsing down the air way. This allows the user many fuel choices and is a better technology. It does not require the lifting of a loaded bin. In this present invention, no stick or tube is used to provide for an airway and does not require removal of said stick or tube after loading the fuel into the inner combustion bin. The solid fuel burners have not utilized this present technology which enables combustion material to burn hotter and longer from the middle outward. This present invention uses a tapered funnel with neck which allows the ash to drop down into an ash bin or pan below after it is burned and does not require constant feeding of the combustion materials as in other stoves. In this preferred embodiment, an inner combustion and an outer exhaust bin is used for reburning of the gases enabling a cleaner burn. When using this center burn technology, the fuel is a natural insulator and burns longer and hotter, enabling a more complete combustion. This invention is a very efficient design for the burning of fuel without other mechanical means.